More about carillonsand other tower bell instruments

This is the introduction to (or top page of) a very large collection
of pages that provide more detailed information about specific sites.
(That means tower bell sites, not Web sites, which we refer to as Websites.)
There is also much closely related or supporting information
on topics such as bellfoundries, great bells, etc.

If your screen has space to show a navigation menu at left,
click here
for a frames version (in the same window).
(You can easily return if you don't like it.)

For quick reference:

Find instruments geographically:

Find instruments by type:

Via indexes of all types
for all instruments made of
conventional, unconventional or tubular tower bells:

A complete
Table of Contents
for this collection appears further down on this page, after the following paragraphs
about just what you can find here.

Introduction to the Data section

The tower bell instruments which have the greatest musical capabilities are
carillons.
They are the focus of the World Carillon Federation
(WCF)
and its component national or regional societies
(such as The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America -
GCNA),
and they are the subject of by far the most important part of this Website.
To enable our visitors to locate any carillon
site in several different ways,
we provide a variety of indexes and maps
for North America and
for the rest of the world.
These indexes and maps all point into a set of Web pages, one per site,
which present useful information (data) in a
standard format.
Each site data page also provides links to other places on the Web
where information about that instrument can be found, when such are known to exist.

NOTE: The WCF Website has a list of carillons worldwide,
and the Websites of some of its component societies (including the GCNA)
have lists of the carillons in their respective areas.
Each such list is useful in its own way, so we advise that you become acquainted
with whatever is in your area of interest.
(You can find them all through the WCF Website - see "Organization.")
Some of those lists are quite detailed, and when they have an individual page
for each instrument, we provide links from our pages to theirs.

In recognition that a number of traditional carillons in North America
and in Europe are either enlargements of or replacements for
chimes,
we provide similar indexes, maps and pages for
all chimes in North America
and most chimes in the rest of the world,
regardless of the type of playing mechanism used.
To support the North American Guild of Change Ringers
(NAGCR) and other change-ringing societies
outside of the British Isles,
we provide similar indexes, maps and pages for
rings of bells,
i.e., chime-sized sets of tower bells
hung for change-ringing, in those areas.
To clarify a major difference in nomenclature between chimes and rings, we provide
a page on notation for chimes and rings.

To tie together these various North American indexes, there is a single combined index
to all kinds of existing conventional tower bell instruments in North America
by state/province,
An alternate combined index arranged
by bellfoundry omits the great number of
chimes made entirely by a single American bellfoundry (to save space).
There are similar combined indexes for each continent or campanologically important country
in the rest of the world,

Since North America has the majority of the world's tubular tower chimes,
made of a material similar to that of conventional bells,
we provide similar indexes for these instruments worldwide
(excepting the British Isles),
and a similar
locator map set.
For completeness, the conventional combined index and the
tubular state/province index are merged into a
general North American index by state/province,
as well as a matching
locator map set.

Some instruments have moved from their original locations, while others no longer exist.
A list of sites that are no more
identifies these places, and tells what happened to each one of the instruments.
Similarly, some instruments have been down-sized or have lost some capabilities;
a list of degraded sites
identifies these places, and tells what happened to each of the instruments.
There is a separate list of tubular tower chimes
that are no more.

Statistical information is presented in various
summaries
which show the numbers of tower bell instruments in various categories.

Most site data pages have one or more locator maps to make it easy to find the place
where that set of bells is installed.
Since several different online mapping services have been used from time to time,
what was originally a simple Help page for those locator maps
has evolved into a complex set of
map usage hints.
The regional locator maps mentioned above
are a specialized form of geographical index, and have their own Help page.

We provide a
list of bellfoundries around the world,
both past and present (though it is far from comprehensive).
For each one, there is an index page to their work on carillons, chimes
and great bells.
(Other bellfoundries are not listed.)
For most of them, that index page also includes
some information on the history of the foundry.
For those which are currently in operation,
the index page always includes information on how to contact them
(and their North American representatives, if any).
We intend eventually to provide a list of carillon builders and maintainers
(i.e., non-bellfounders) around the world,
including information on how to contact them.

There is a limited
glossary
of bell-related words to help you understand how those words are used
in these pages (and elsewhere).

Finally, since many of the heaviest bells in the world are the basses of
the largest carillons, we present some lists of
great bells
and some general information about
bell weights.

We do not provide information about any of the various kinds
of electronic devices that purport to imitate the sound of bells,
even when they include the word "carillon" in their names.
However, we realize that you may run across such places while surfing the Web,
and we want to help you avoid confusion about what they are.
Therefore, we do provide a
list of such places that have come to our attention
(but without links).

Although this Website is designed to give you ready access to
specific data on every individual tower bell instrument
which meets our listing criteria,
we realize that a few of our visitors may have a need for a compact printout
(or hardcopy) listing all of the tower bell sites that fit a certain set of criteria.
We provide that in two ways:

downloadable Portable Document Format (PDF) files, which you can print

a custom printout service, from which you can order via email

Both of these types of hardcopy originate from the
same database that is used to produce the site data pages and indexes
which you can find here.
They include additional types of technical information which
are not included in these Webpages.
See our hardcopy page for more information.
You will also find there some of the history of this database and its
earlier appearances in various print publications.

The same printout service is used to provide an expression of our thanks
when you send us useful
feedback
to improve the contents of the database of tower bell sites.

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to get to this Table of Contents,
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